India day 1. School Field Trip.

I flew out on Thurs at 1:55pm to Chicago with a 20 min layover. Then the 14 hour flight to Delhi. I say next to Robert, Akon's brother. I had not idea who Akon was. More later on this. Got to Delhi at 11:30pm local time. I called Santusht to let him know that I had made it (he asked that I do so) and he offered a change of plans. I spoke with the airline and changed my flight from Sat morning to Sun morning. Santusht, his wife Poornima, and my new India mother, Ratna Aunty, came and picked me up at 1:30 am. We drove across town (Delhi) to where there were 42 children (9th graders, most 14 years old) and 9 teachers from the school where Ratna Aunty and Dwarakimama administrate.

When we arrived, the children were waking up from sleeping on blankets on the floor. Naren was assigned to make sure that I was taken care of, I called him my 'Bodyguard'. He loved it. Many of the kids were timid and a little nervous around me at first, I am very white and very tall. Some came and shook my hand as they were eager to greet me. I really felt like a celebrity with them, pretty funny.

We left at 2:30 am on a bus down to Agra. It is around a 4 hour drive. Even at that time of the night there is traffic. Driving here is very different. You honk your horn to let people know that you are passing. On many of the trucks it even says, "Horn Please". There were shops consistently on the side of the road for about 3 hours. The rest of the kids slept while Naren and I spoke, he was very eager to hear me talk about different things. Often I would need to him to repeat a couple of times until I understood what he was saying. He spoke very good English though. Soon, he grew tired and slept as well. The bus was about 10 rows long with 3 seats on one side and 2 on the other. I sat on the two seat row in the middle. The boys and the girls were separated boys in back, girls in front. They were very comfortable around each other there were no qualms about sleeping on each other (one against the window, one on his shoulder and then next on his shoulder or; one on the lap next to him and then he right on his back). The only time anyone said anything was when Naren fell asleep on me and the girls in front of me insisted on waking him up. He soon was back on my shoulder and I tried to make him as comfortable as possible (of course I didn't mind).

We had breakfast on the bus. They brought several pots of food which contained several dishes. It was well orchestrated where the teachers in front served one item and passed the plate to next to continue until the plate was full and then passed to the back. We had upma, bonda, na'an, and chutney (I may be getting some of those wrong). It was delicious, seriously.

We arrived at Fatepur Sikri after driving through some farmlands. It is a fortress built by Emperor Akbar of the Mughal empire around 1571. We had a tour guide that explained everything in English. The mosque is still in use today and removed our shoes before entering the compound. The buildings are stunning here and very interesting. To build at the size they are must have required some ingenuity and a lot of man power.

By this time, the kids were becoming more and more comfortable with me and more of them spoke with me as the day went on. Soon one of the boys asked me to sing a song in English. The didn't know any of the music that I know, they asked for Akon first. When I told them I rode the same plane here as he did, they were very excited (who is the Akon guy?) I sang a couple of songs for them and at the conclusion of each, they broke into a thunderous applause. I laughed very loud. Then they taught me a Kannada song which I butchered severely. Even so, they still applauded fiercely when I concluded. Then a hindi song. All 42 of the kids gathered as close as they could to me on the bus with kids on kids on kids so that they could hear. Really, I felt like a celebrity. The routine went, they would give me a new line (I had them write it down), I would read it, they would sing it, and then I would attempt to sing it. Que the tumult of 'HEY!!!' and loud claping to only be replaced by my laughing which of course triggered many of them to giggle afterwards. Then, "Next line!" and they began the next one.

We arrived at the Taj Mahal in good time. I spoke with my cousin Nels before coming and his comment was, "There are many things where there is a lot of hype built up. The Taj Mahal lives up to it all." I agree completely. It really is astonishing. Especially when you learn that the white marble comes from Afganistan! It is enourmous and refined, in-your-face and intricate. It was difficult to keep all of the children together and a large portion of time was gathering everyone up at different times. This was the first time for almost all of the students to visit and they were also excited (I forgot to mention that they are from Bangalore [now known as Bengaluru] which is a 36 hour train ride to Delhi, one I will be making later this month.) I wish I could have spent more time there to myself and taken it in a little better but the experience with the kids was definately worth it. They are so fun to be around. After seeing the building we exited the grounds where we were bombarded by street vendors insisting we enter their store. The kids took advantage of the attention and for about an hour bartered along with the teachers. I stood across the road(?) and watched it all. Many of the kids asked what I had purchased and were perplexed when I said I had not purchased anything. They didn't understand that there was nothing there that I needed to buy.

Next we went to Mathura, the birthplace of the much loved Hindu god, Krishna. We stripped ourselves of all metal, leather (cows are sacred for Hindus), and shoes to be able to enter the grounds. We walked barefoot for about a half mile past a ghat when at certain times will be filled with people taking their holy dip. This would be a spiritual cleansing and not physical because water was not very clean. The ghat we passed by was probably 1.5 acres in a square and down probably 30 yards with stairs on all 4 sides. We slowly entered the grounds after a thorough body search from military personal there. They definitely knew EVERYTHING that was on my person. We spent around 1.5 hours here going through the different shrines. During that time, I was the only white person I saw (there were many others at our other stops). The happenings were very different to what I am used to and so I have begun to ask Ratna Aunty and others about the Hindu religion which they are very eager to share. One teacher explained a couple of things as we went along but I didn't understand most of it. I have read in two books about the religion and still understand very little. Hopefully after a month of living with Hindus, I will be able to understand better :)

We next traveled to Vrindavan where Krishna grew up. Again, the barefoot walk this time through narrow streets packed with vendors and small cars and scooters honking to get past the traffic going both ways. Again, the experience there was very new and so I tried to observe what others were doing and do the same. Granted, I was the only 6'4" white guy there and was difficult to blend in.

I was able to sleep for couple of hours (probably 2) which was very refreshing. I had now gone for about 60 hours on only 4 hours of sleep. We arrived back in Delhi and Santusht and family came and picked me up. We all ate dinner with the kids. We ate on the floor in a circle along the wall. Here, you eat with your right and serve with your left. No utensils. Next time you eat rice, eat it with just your right hand it will be a good experience. So far, I have felt fairly adequate while eating. Again, I try and observe what others are doing and do the same.

We returned to Santusht's home and got to sleep around Midnight. Because that was Noon my time, it took a little bit to fall asleep even though I was pretty tired.

END OF DAY 1 IN INDIA, wait, one day? Yeah, it was a busy day.